OF CORNWALL. 83 
Blown fand, * which has been long expofed to the air, is good for B!own fand - 
little, it’s falts are fo wafted by wind and rain, and it’s lime fo 
evapourated ; but take the like ftzed, coloured, and textured fand, 
wafhed by the fea every tide, or covered from the air, and the huf- 
bandman is well rewarded both in corn and grafs. The dime mixed Slimy fand. 
with fands, if earthy, and the product of putrified leaves, wood, 
and animal remains, will much enrich the foil, but if the offcafts 
of ftamping mills, or the fediment of mines, their acrimonious 
mineral juices are mortal enemies to vegetation. When fand is Sparry fand. 
of a fparry calcarious fubftance, and will ferment with acids (as 
the fand of Heyl and of fome other places will) then it adds as lime, 
and does of itfeli fertilize the ground in proportion to the lime 
which it contains. Better ftill is that fand which is plentifully mixed Shelly f an d. 
with fhells and their fragments, for as fhells are of the nature of 
lime, moulded and fixed into a fhell by an uncduous cement, fuch 
fand, in proportion to the fhells it contains, will give the heat of 
lime and the fatnefs of oil to the land it is laid upon. Of this fand 
they have fome in the iflands of Scilly, which good hufbandmen 
find their account in preferring (though at a greater diftance) to 
their other fands. In Cornwall, Whitfand-bay fand in Sennan pa- 
rifli has fome fragments of fhells, and fometimes entire finall fhells 
among it, it rifes and plays up and down in aqua forth , and makes 
a moderate effervefcence like fpar, but that which has the moft 
fhells, as far as I am yet informed, is that of Porcurnow Cove, 
near the Land’s-End, which plays brifkly, makes a confiderable 
colluclation, diffolves in aqua fortis , and crackles much in the fire. 
All thefe fands have more fhells at fome times than other, according 
as the winds have been more or lefs favourable to the mixture. 
But the beft of all our Cornifti fands, is that which is intimately CoK j fandi 
mixed with coral : In places where this excellent manure is found, 
it is taken up by a large bag of the ftrongeft canvas, to the mouth 
of which is fitted an iron hoop or frame for keeping it open, and 
finking it to the bottom of the fea, fo as it may receive the fand 
and coral as it is dredged along by the bargemen. A barge-load is 
ufually deliverd for ten fhillings, or lefs if nearer the place of dred- 
ging, and where the land is good a barge-load will drefs an acre of 
ground ; it is ufed more for corn than pafture grounds. The ferti- 
lizing quality of coral is owing to the fame caufe as that of fhells, 
for it is of the fame limy nature, and makes a ftrong effervefcence 
with acids, and, being more folid than fhells, conveys a greater 
quantity of fermenting earth in equal fpace. Befides, it does not 
difiolve in the ground as foon as fhells, but decaying more gradu- 
ally continues longer to impart its warmth to the juices of the 
* Sand blown up from the fea-fhore upon the lands adjoining. 
earth. 
